


Wishes and Fireflies

by nuclearpolymer



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-23 20:30:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12515948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nuclearpolymer/pseuds/nuclearpolymer
Summary: On the night of the rose moon, mortals who ask the Fairy King to grant a wish must be ready to pay his price.





	Wishes and Fireflies

"Narcissa, this is foolishness and rank superstition." Lucius scowled and huffed. "You aren't some child to be chasing fireflies into the woods."

"Indeed, I am not a child anymore. But the Healers and their potions, despite being nearly as bitter as an empty cradle, have proven to be poor medicine. I'm taking the matter into my own hands at last. If you scorn the old magics, you need not wait up for my return." 

The woman took a deep breath and strode out the door without looking back.

* * *

Albus slipped on his shoes and tiptoed out of the house, hoping not to wake his brother. They'd argued again this evening, as they always did during those brief periods when they were speaking to each other. He took his cloak out of the closet where his sister's and mother's robes still hung. Though he reproached himself for it every day, he missed them less deeply than he burned for the loss of his enchanted summer, that time when the future seemed heady and golden.

"A late night rendezvous with a new soul mate?" Aberforth hissed in the dark. 

The young man clenched his teeth and pretended not to hear. Tears blurred his vision, and the pinpoints of light from the fireflies in the meadow looked just the same as the stars.

* * *

"It's such a dangerous thing to try, Luna. But if anyone can do it, it'll be you!" Ginny gave her a hug and a kiss for luck. "You can tell your father that you're spending the night with me, and I'll tell Mum that we're camping out in the garden. I'll put our jar of fireflies next to the tent, so you can find your way back."

Luna crossed her fingers on both hands. "I just don't want him to know how much I've missed my mother, because he'd be sad. Let these fireflies go free; they're getting bored. I know the moonlight will be bright enough for me."

Halfway to the forest, she turned to wave at her friend. Both girls wondered what the fairies would demand tonight.

* * *

When the woman, the young man, and the girl entered the forest, they left the June night of their own years behind. Each hoped for an audience with the Fairy King, who was rumored to grant wishes on the night of the rose moon, for any mortal who was able to meet his challenge.

Walking through the trees to a place out of time, the woman reached a mossy clearing with a spring-fed pool reflecting the moon. She nudged a toadstool with her satin slipper, knocked softly on a hollow log, and dropped a leaf into the pool.

"Surprise me, my dear witch. Show me something amazing, for I am weary of this timeless grotto. Eternity unchanging becomes rather monotonous. I'm glad so many humans come to amuse me."

"King of the Fairies," she said, kneeling gracefully. "I brought you a gift." She took a pearl-and-opal box from under her cloak and wafted it toward him with her wand. The box seemed to catch the moonlight, and something inside glowed faintly. "This bell was made by Mermish craftsmen three hundred years ago. Ring it and speak, and all those of your blood will hear you."

The King looked at his Jester and flicked his fingers toward the woman's offering. The Jester plucked up the bell and tossed it into the air, along with a silver ball and a garland of roses. He juggled nimbly, and the bell rang each time it went around. When he stopped, the bell and ball disappeared, and the wilted roses fell to the ground.

"Earnest human, it was a pretty thought to bring me your treasure trinket. But surely you must know that none of my court are made of meat and blood like yourself? I count the fireflies and the beetles as my kin, but they have no ears to hear my words." He watched the woman tremble, but his eyes were cold. "I'll be merciful. You shall have your son, and when it comes time to pay my price, you won't even remember making the bargain."

The Jester shook the tattered garland over her head, and red petals fell onto her fair hair. They turned into tiny red spiders that scuttled to the ground. Narcissa was asleep before she could even shudder.

* * *

Walking faster and faster, then running until his gasps drowned out the night time sounds of the forest's owls and frogs, the young man tripped on a tree root. Stumbling, he fell heavily into a thorny bush and onto his arse. Albus managed to hold back the curses that sprang to his tongue, lest the Fairy King overhear and judge him to be a rash and heedless youth. Before he had time to catch his breath, he heard a deep and musical laugh. 

"Well, young wizard, you make a good start at entertaining me. Now, do your best to astonish me. I would see something new and marvelous and meaningful."

After a struggle to extract himself from the bush, the man brushed dirt off his robes, then bowed deeply. "King of the Fairies, I hope my efforts may please you." He had lain awake for many nights and pored through countless tomes, creating a plethora of spells he might need to show the King. Now it all came down to a moment's choice and the King's whim.

The wizard took his wand and spun moonlight and wind into a chariot with white plumes that frothed like a waterfall. Then, with another gesture, he drew up iron and granite from the ground, until a small dragon with obsidian scales reared and tossed its head, harnessed as a steed. "This dragon will carry you to the location of any single thing you seek, in the blink of an eye. No enemy can evade you; no rare treasure can remain hidden from you," he offered.

At a nod from the King, his Jester stepped onto the chariot. The dragon sprang into the air and the Jester drove up and down, snatching leaves from trees. Then the Jester was diving toward the ground, letting the dragon run away with the chariot.

"That was stronger magic than I expected from a human," said the King with a smile but no cheer. "But I can step from my forest to any tree or mushroom that has ever grown on this earth, and there is little that the wind can't see already." The man bowed his head. "At least you made me laugh once, oh mighty wizard. You shall see him again one day, and he won't ever forget you."

The Jester threw a handful of the leaves he'd torn from the trees. When they hit the ground, each became a green lizard. The lizards quickly ran around Albus's feet, sparks flying from their forked tongues. He was asleep before he could see whether the sparks burned where they fell.

* * *

The girl looked up at the moon and spun around until it swung wildly around the sky, and she could see it with her eyes closed.

"Surprise me, my human child. I tire of the forest, the sky, and the moon. But what else is there for me, when all the songs, towers, or marvels made by men must so quickly fade away?"

"Good King," she said, curtseying with a skip and clasping her hands. "You have seen the boughs of a tree reaching for the stars, you have watched the scattered seeds of a dandelion spring up with the sunshine." The King nodded slowly, once, without expression. "You have no need for the little toys that my sort of magic can make." With a flick of her wand, she made purple-leafed vines circle around the clearing and white trumpet flowers tumble in every direction.

"Instead, come with me without moving from this spot, and I'll show you the world anew," she said, throwing both hands over her head, clapping twice, and quickly bending over to touch her hands to the ground in front of her. "Come on, do as I've done, and look!" She laughed, with her face upside down and her hair hanging in her eyes, yet the King hesitated. The Jester clapped, then turned a somersault and a half, ending with his hands and feet on the ground and his head between his legs. 

"Your Majesty, she speaks the truth!" the Jester sang out. "Quick now, surely you aren't afraid of a human child's tricks."

At that challenge, the King clapped and then held his crown to his head with both hands and bent over to look between his own legs. "Dear child, what wild magic is this?" he said. "It is still the forest, the sky, and the moon, yet everything is different! How was this other world hidden all this time, and how did you reveal it?" His crown fell to the ground, forgotten in his delight.

"No magic at all, good King. You can see this upside-down world any time you wish." She rolled onto her back and lay on the ground. "Do you like my surprise?"

"I do indeed. Everything is smaller and closer than before, and clearer and dearer to me!" the King said. He straightened up and reached into his robe. He threw a handful of sapphires toward the girl, and they grew tiny wings and turned into peacock blue beetles that zipped away, leaving just a trace of a sparkle that settled into her skin. "Sleep soundly, human girl, and when you wake, you will have your heart's desire."

* * *

As the forest began to grow light, the three sleepers stirred. Walking out of the trees, they returned to their familiar paths. The King had taken care that they were away only the one night of the rose moon, directing each visitor back to their own time.

The woman found her precious bell near its jeweled box and regretted that she hadn't found the fairy court after all. Walking back to her house, lost in thought, she never noticed that her slippers were wet from the dew. The night air had given her wild thoughts space to roam, and for the first time, she wondered whether the healers had been treating the wrong patient. None of them had even dared to suggest examining her husband! Luckily, if the reason for their childless marriage lay with Lucius, she knew one very traditional way around the difficulty.

Hope and fear, secrets and lies...the young man was stung by his own failures. If only he'd made a stronger spell, one powerful enough to win the King's challenge, instead of getting a consolation prize for falling on his arse like any idiot could have done. Now, he could only dread the promised reunion, imagining all the twisted ways it could go badly wrong. Maybe he should steer clear of fairy gifts in the future. They were as slippery as prophecies and as sharp as revenge.

The girl woke up and looked at a small, pink seashell in her hand. Last night, she had gone on a long adventure with her mother. Though this was one of her favorite dreams, she could never figure out the right combination of indigestible foods and imaginary conversations to have before bedtime, to make it happen more often. This time, the fairies had left her the seashell so she could see her mother again. Any night she was feeling lonely, she need only put the seashell under her pillow. As she looked at it, the seashell stuck itself to her little fingernail, so that it was almost disguised. She blew a kiss to the Fairy King, thankful that he'd made sure she would never lose his key and token.

**Author's Note:**

> Luna's gift was inspired by a 2016 Ig Nobel Prize winner (http://en.ritsumei.ac.jp/news/detail/?id=85)


End file.
